Facebook ads or Google ads for a home service business

If you run a home service business and you're deciding whether your ad money should go to Facebook or Google, the short version is that they do different jobs. Google catches people who are already searching for a plumber, electrician or roofer today. Facebook and Instagram put you in front of people who weren't looking yet.

Why does Google usually come first for home services?

Because the person typing "water heater leaking" or "electrician near me" needs someone now. On Facebook, you interrupt someone scrolling past friends and news, so you have to create the need before they act.

• Google Search and Local Services Ads answer demand that already exists. Best for repairs, emergencies and anything with a deadline.
• Facebook and Instagram create demand. Best for work people put off or plan ahead: remodels, pools, painting, cleaning plans, seasonal tune-ups.
• Facebook reaches most of your market. Pew Research Center's 2026 social media fact sheet shows 70% of US adults use Facebook, 51% use Instagram and 84% use YouTube.

Facebook leads are cheaper, so why not start there?

Because a cheaper lead is not a cheaper job. National benchmarks show Facebook leads for home services cost about half as much as Google search leads, but Facebook leads are earlier in the decision and convert on the landing page less often.

Sources: LocaliQ's 2026 search advertising benchmarks and LocaliQ's 2026 Facebook advertising benchmarks, built from its customers' campaigns. Across all industries, LocaliQ puts the Facebook cost per lead at $27.39, and it lists Home and Home Improvement among the most expensive Facebook categories.

These are national averages. Your own numbers in Orange County or anywhere else in Southern California can be higher or lower, so use them as a starting point, not a forecast.

What does that look like per booked job?

It depends almost entirely on your close rate. Here is an example with a $1,500 monthly budget on each channel, using the benchmark costs above and assumed close rates. These are not client results.

The same Facebook budget can be the worst or the best option. What changes it is whether someone calls the lead back in minutes, asks qualifying questions, and follows up more than once. Our guide to speed to lead covers how to do that with a small crew.

Run this with your own numbers: ad spend divided by leads gives cost per lead, leads times close rate gives jobs, and spend divided by jobs gives cost per booked job. Compare that with the gross profit on an average job.

Which trades do better on Facebook?

Trades with visual results, planned purchases or recurring service tend to do better on Facebook. Emergency repair trades almost always do better on Google.

How should I split a small budget?

Under about $1,500 a month, pick one channel and do it properly. Splitting a small budget across two platforms usually means neither one gets enough data to tell you anything.

• Small budget, urgent trade: Google only. Start with Local Services Ads if your category is eligible, since you pay per lead. Here is how Local Services Ads compare with regular Google Ads.
• Small budget, visual or recurring service: either one works. Pick the one where you can follow up fastest. Facebook leads go cold quickly.
• Larger budget: Google for people searching now, plus Facebook retargeting to people who visited your site, and offers to your area before your busy season.
• Every budget: after 60 to 90 days, move money toward whichever channel has the lower cost per booked job.

What does a Facebook ad that books jobs look like?

A clear offer, a real photo or short video from your own jobs, and a lead form that asks enough to sort out tire-kickers. Generic "we do it all" ads rarely get anyone to stop scrolling.

• Offer: one specific thing with a reason to act now, such as a seasonal tune-up, a free estimate window this month, or a first-clean price.
• Creative: a before-and-after, a 15-second clip of the crew at work, or the owner explaining the offer on camera. Real beats polished.
• Audience: your service area by zip code, plus people who already visited your website or watched your videos.
• Follow-up: a text and a call to every lead within minutes, then at least two more attempts over the next few days.

How long should I test before deciding?

Give each channel 60 to 90 days with tracking in place before you decide. The first few weeks of any campaign are mostly learning: which searches or audiences bring real jobs, which bring junk, and what to cut.

Set a stop rule before you start. For example: if the cost per booked job is still more than your gross profit per job after 90 days, and you've already fixed follow-up and the landing page, move that budget to the other channel.

What needs to be in place before either one works?

Tracking, fast follow-up and proof. Without those, you will not know which channel worked, and both will look worse than they are.

1. Call tracking and a lead sheet. Note the source of every call and form, and whether it booked. This is how you get cost per booked job.
2. A landing page per offer. Phone number at the top, the service and city in the headline, photos of real jobs, reviews.
3. Reviews people can see. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey found 54% of consumers visit a business's website after reading positive reviews. Someone who clicks your Facebook ad may still look up your Google reviews before they call.
4. Qualifying questions on Facebook lead forms. Ask for zip code, the service and timing. More questions mean fewer leads, but better ones.
5. A callback rule. Every new lead gets a call within minutes during business hours and a text if no one answers.

Do I need an agency to run these?

Not to start. An owner can set up a Local Services Ads profile or a simple Facebook lead campaign, especially with a small budget. It makes sense to pay for management when spend is large enough that wasted clicks cost more than the fee, or when you would rather be on jobs than in ad dashboards.

If you hire someone, ask them to report cost per booked job by channel. A report with only clicks, reach and impressions can't tell you which platform is making you money.

Weighing ads against rankings instead? Our post on SEO vs Google Ads for a local business covers that choice.

What does Key Rank Strategies do about it?

We grow local service businesses and report results in calls, customers and revenue, not just clicks or rankings. That makes the Facebook versus Google decision a numbers question instead of a guess.

• We manage Google and Meta ads alongside SEO, Google Business Profile, websites and video ads, as one growth plan, so every channel is judged on the same booked jobs.
• Facebook and Instagram are visual, so short videos of real jobs give people a reason to stop scrolling. We produce video ads as part of the plan.
• One example from our work: Serene Pools, a pool contractor in Orange County, grew from 165 to 1,080 monthly Google clicks and from 37K to 343K monthly impressions in 6 months.

See how we run Google and Meta together in our growth plan for local service businesses.